A long-term example happens in The Stalking Zuko Series. At the very beginning of the series, Katara says she is keeping a stalker diary on Zuko, the method through which the story is told, so that she can know his weaknesses and be prepared if he decides to betray them. She even goes so far as to refer to Zuko "Subject" for most of the first installment, because she is determined that he will not endear himself to her again. This is a Zutara fic, so Katara ends up befriending and eventually falling in love with Zuko.

Shadow of the Dragon: In chapter 18, Satome laughs off Tomoyo's warnings about Syaoran's threats and what her mother will do to him if he does rape her, stating, "I've heard that bullshit before. I'm not dead or in jail, am I?" After Sakura swoops in and saves Tomoyo, he does end up in jail, and by the next chapter, his own mother has been arranged for him to be killed and his death ruled as a suicide.

Lampshaded in Lelouch of the Redemption. According to C.C., things went wrong almost immediately after Lelouch said "All tasks at hand have been achieved" so often (basically every time) that there was a rumor among the Black Knights that the line was jinxed.

In Code: SAW, Cassidy thinks that the day will be great, but it ends up with her and William stuck in the Spike Trap on Lyoko.

In A Hero, the second chapter has Dalek Sec watching Homura battle Walpurgisnacht from afar, and concluding that the Witch isn't looking his way, and wouldn't attack him. Fortunately, Sec's savvy enough to realize what he just did, which gives him just enough time to learn that a horde of familiars are heading his way.

Makoto:"And I thought it couldn't get any worse than having to pick up Misato's dry cleaning for her. Honestly, could this day possibly get any worse?"

This is referenced in The Man with No Name while some characters are infiltrating the enemy stronghold. It ultimately ends up subverted, however; despite the Doctor's expectations, nothing of the sort happens.

Inara: They seem to be expecting an auditor.

The Doctor: Good. No one will get too fussed when we go about asking nosy questions then.

Inara: As long as the real auditors don't show up, we should be alright.

The Doctor: *winces* Oh, did you have to say that? Now they're bound to turn up. I swear, everyone has to go and jinx it all, saying things like 'It can't possibly get any worse' or 'Ooh, it's unsinkable!'

Trunks' New Look ends with him saying this line, right before Goku, Chi-Chi and Gohan come in.

In White Devil of the Moon, Fate repeatedly has to fend off Luna, Tuxedo Mask and the Inner Senshi, who mistakenly think she is a Dark Senshi who has kidnapped Nanoha (who is also Sailor Moon and the reincarnation of Princess Serenity). After the situation gets to the point where Fate has to tell Nanoha about it despite not wanting her to get involved out of Chronic Hero Syndrome and as a result, put a strain on her body, Nanoha remarks "At least we aren't likely to have any trouble show up at a wedding." At the wedding, Jadeite attacks in an attempt to kill Nanoha, who severely taxes her Linker Core by killing him with a Divine Buster.

Tobi: "Guys, guys, guys… Relax! We’re through our first major challenge of the mission, and we’re in great shape!” Tobi: "What could possibly go wrong?" Narration: Three seconds later, the Knock-Up Stream erupted from the ocean’s depths. The solid column of torrential seawater was like the god of the sea himself delivering a furious uppercut to the unprepared ship. In an instant, the crew was slammed into the deck, and their ship was sent rocketing violently into the stratosphere.

Amy notes that they've got a rought month, but at last they're having a good, peaceful day. Cue explosions.

Red winced. “It’s been, uh, a rough month, right?” Amy simply nodded. Wonder Red looked like she wanted to ask more, but she thankfully finally looked away to continue staring at the city. It was a good day. Something exploded far in the distance, and Amy choked back a curse.

Right after being shot and smashing through a tank, Vicky has this to say:

“That… was… AWESOME!” Vicky exclaimed with glee. “Can we do it again?!” Whatever reply there might have been was silenced as a fireball hit the side of the PRT building, and they turned to see two more tanks in the distance. Vista shot Victoria an angry glare. She had the decency to look sheepish.

In Thousand Shinji, Gendo thinks that Shinji is obviously too broken to do anything other than sitting beside her comatose girlfriend's bed and praying, and his beliefs are proof of his son's weakness. A short while later his plans were completely ruined by his son who had just become a very pissed-off god.

When Caleb grumbles about his lack of success in capturing Phobos' still free minions and Sandpit's escape, he wonders if Phobos, Cedric and Miranda would escape from the Infinite City. Immediately he hears the alarms informing of Miranda and Jade's escape with Nerissa's help. As he rushes to the dungeons, he admits to himself that he jinxed it. In the same scene, he also wondered if Raythor would return from the Abyss of Shadows, and he later finds out that that has happened as well.

In Maximus, the Council has finally gotten the newcomers Drakon Empire to sit down for peace talks over their war against the Batarians when Tevos accidentally taunts Murphy as their fleet appears.

Fantasy of Utter Ridiculousness: On one occasion, after Suika threatens to crack Megas like an egg while under the mistaken assumption that her sake gourd was stolen, Coop declares that she's more than welcome to try. On another, Coop states that there's no way Yuuka's getting back up after she was hit by a Nitrous-powered tackle and getting buried in a plateau. Both times, he ends up eating his words.

Krillin: We won't ever have to see him again! (Vegeta falls next to Krillin)Krillin: ... alive again. I meant we won't ever have to see him alive again! (naturally, Vegeta is alive)

In Episode 18, Vegeta brags to Goku that besides Freeza he's the most powerful being on the planet. Cue the Ginyu Force showing up.

"That's right. I'm your white mage. And nobody fucks with the white mage." Three guesses as to what happens immediately afterwards.

The best one yet:

Gohan: Aw, but cells are boring.

In episode 46, the fight between Piccolo and Android #17 reaches a point where the two are trying to push one another and screaming. #18 groans that "This is so dumb. This cannot get any dumber." After a brief cutaway, we're shown the two males punching each other in the stomach, #18 replies, "I was wrong. This got so much dumber."

In The History of Trunks Abridged:

Adult Gohan: No! This isn't where my story ends! Trunks' Narration: This is where Gohan's story ends.

In Only Human, Harry is preparing for a political dinner with Lara, and Molly suggests he take some condoms just in case. Harry decides not to, apparently concluding that there is no way hanging out with a "drop-dead gorgeous, sex-craving vampire" could possibly end erotically. Guess what happens.note This is made all the more egregious by Harry- canonically- having unprotected sex with another (type of) vampire, and unknowingly siring a child.

In Frozen Hearts, Hans and his brother Heins are staying with Kristoff overnight. Kristoff tells them that they should leave the next day or word of their presence will get around. Hans asks if there's a risk of them being discovered that night, but Kristoff tells him not to worry because he never gets any visitors. Right on cue, Anna shows up at the door. Kristoff lunges to his feet and pounds across the room, but is too late to stop her from bursting in.

Lampshaded in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality during the Stanford Prison Experiment arc. Dumbledore declared himself invincible and an Azkaban guard asks in astonished horror if he really just said that. Her commander says that he can get away with it since not even fate takes Dumbledore seriously anymore.

In The Serpentine Subterfuge Harriet Potter (who's currently pretending to be her cousin) tries to trick a possessed Ginny Weasley into doing a villain monologue and Ginny replies that it doesn't matter how long she talks because "No one is coming to save you."

Rigel wasn't sure if the universe was testing her or not. It seemed too much like an ironic taunt from Fate. Surely no one in the world was so arrogant, so ridiculously confident, as to spit in the face of Fate so blatantly. It wasn't asking to eat your own words. It was handing the universe the ingredients and then giving Fate a recipe for your own disaster.

In this drabble fic, Eridan finds a young girl trying to kill his lusus and says threateningly: "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cull you right now." And then he sees her blood colour and realizes that the girl is Princess Feferi, and the only troll on the planet whose caste is above his.

In Lilly Epilogue Family Matters, Hisao narrates that "Considering that just one year ago I probably felt like the most pathetic sap on the planet, things are definitely looking up. Everything just feels right with the world." In the next scene, he finds out that his girlfriend Lilly's parents are coming to visit, prompting him to think "Ohfuck".

In Awesomeness Of The Ocarina this trope is inverted and discussed. "Even though Navi tempted fate with the dreaded "It can't get any worse" stock phrase, things actually got better. Link noticed this, but he didn't want to push his luck."

Wisdom and Courage: When Veran is defeated in chapter 35, with the Master Sword sticking out of her chest, she nonetheless gloats to Link and Zelda that they can never defeat her as long as she wields the Triforce... only for the Golden Goddesses to choose that very moment to take the Triforce away from her before she can use it to heal her wounds, leaving her to die. Zelda does not waste a moment in rubbing that fact in Veran's face.

In the 26th video of Ultra J Man's Let's PlayI Wanna Be the Guy, he is still angry for a previous crash he had, and he declares "I get to the end, I beat The Guy, and it fucking crashes. That's how it's gonna end!"Guess what happens.

During the same video, Chuggaa points out how stupid it is that an NPC points out a very obvious hazard, wondering how anybody could ever get hit by them. He doesn't even manage to finish the question before he gets hit.

During the outtakes from the third Rival battle: "What the heck was I worried about, it's a freaking Rattata." Said Rattata then uses Quick Attack, gets a critical hit, and kills off his last Pokémon. "WHAT?! WHAT?! WHAT?!"

The metafic epic The Official Fanfiction University of Middle-earth tackles this in an early chapter, when the heroine spends a day with everything going wrong determinedly resisting the temptation to demand what else could go wrong ("for as everyone know, that is an invitation to get a demonstration of just what else can go wrong. The gods/God/evil forces/whatever you believed in were nothing if not equipped with a sense of irony. It's a vital God-quality, that."), until one thing too many does and she lets it slip. She then yells out that she didn't mean it... to no avail.

Mei: You know, this kind of creepy tunnel place with a load of dead bodies in it – well, dead robots, but it's the same sort of thing – you'd expect them to, like, get up and start attacking when someone poked one. Heidi: Will you shut up? You don't say stuff like that on a mission, do you want to make us all paranoid and jumpy?

In Perfection is Overrated, after Midori tells the other Himes about what she's uncovered regarding the Hime Carnival, Shizuru tells her that there may not be much more time to find out, as one more incident with a SUE could force the school to shut down. Immediately afterward, Sekai the SUE unleashes an army of Orphans and Slave-users on the school, forcing them to evacuate the student body and fend off the invaders. Even though she's defeated, the school has to shut down, and Sekai is not even the last SUE they face.

Tevos, in Mass Effect: End of Days. This being an alternate-humanity-tech fic, the Council, while discussing how to curb the Alliance's growing power in the galaxy, and how to potentially strike back, Tevos asks the others to be realistic.

"Let us be reasonable, Valern." Tevos spoke again. "What's the worst they could do? Bring back the Rachni?"

In chapter 7 of 1000 Virgin Mares, Trixie comments that the threat facing her and the protagonist might be a dragon, but probably not because it's too far north. The protagonist immediately calls her on it, and sure enough, the threat turns out to be a dragon.

The Overdude *Facepalm*: Now you said it. You realize you've just put a dragon there now. Tinker bell make-over says it's a dragon.

The first line in Dash's New Mom, a fanfic where Dash struggles with her feelings over her father dating her same-aged best friend.

[Rainbow Dash's] life just couldn't get any better. Her life proceeds to go sideways 15 minutes later.

In Nosflutteratu, Twilight really should know better than to say “it’s a quiet day” and “what could possibly go wrong?” Cue the discovery that Flutershy's a vampire.

At one point in the Reading Rainbowverse, Fluttershy promised to pole-dance at Macintosh's wedding during a drunken rant. Once she sobered up, she immediately added the caveat that she "had to grow a horn first." Pinkie Pie pointed out what she was doing, and Fluttershy pointed out that it was very unlikely for her ever to become an alicorn, and Pinkie would probably become an alicorn first...

As of this writing, Pinkie Pie is indeed an alicorn.

The Twilight Child is filled with this, almost all of it coming from Twilight Sparkle. Eventually when she does it and doesn't get called out for it, she gets worried.

In one chapter, Rarity's out at a restaurant, and loudly announces she locked up everything before going out, so there is absolutely no chance whatsoever that the Cutie Mark Crusaders can get in. None whatsoever. Not even half a minute later she's running back to check on everything.

In A Stranger Among the Voices, Twilight walks into the library after a stressful morning to be greeted by an explosion in the kitchen. "How can this day get any worse?" Rather hilariously lampshaded in the narration:

Seven words, seven innocuous words that when separated are as common as night and day. Many of the brightest minds had spent years researching the mystical power inherent when the words go together in the exact right order, and yet, none had ever come to a conclusion. It was even rumored Clover the Clever had spent some of her years delving deep into their mystery but all to no avail. Twilight Sparkle, with all her past experiences really should have known better; at the end of the day she had no-one to blame but herself.

Shinji: “This place gets weirder every time I turn around. Witch Queens, people with wings, people back from the dead, at least three copies of us running around, and a bartender that looked like a dragon. I’d ask ‘what’s next?’, but I bet that would count as tempting fate around here.”

And in chapter 55 Asuka complains about her debut battle being too easy to Shinji’s horror:

Shinji: “Oh, now you’ve done it. Next time it will be Godzilla because you said that. I know how these movies work,”

And in chapter 67, after gloating about making her own fate for several weeks, Asuka finds out that she got pregnant:

Asuka: ‘Now what, Sohryu? I’m so fucking smart, now what do I do? I’ve been bragging to myself about beating fear and deciding my own fate for weeks now. I think fate just punched back.’

Advice and Trust: Tired of putting up with their insubordination Gendo fires Shinji and Asuka, his two best pilots, saying the dummy plugs will be adequate substitutes. When Fuyutsuki questions his good judgement Gendo reiterates the dummy plugs will suffice and there is nothing to get concerned about. Cue Zeruel coming along thirty-six hours later, tearing apart the drone-controlled Evas easily, and Shinji and Asuka having to perform a last-minute appearance to save Rei.

The Child of Love: In chapter 2 Asuka is going to the bakery to buy some bread. Misato urges her to be careful and she replies: “Do you think anything's going to happen while I'm just going to the bakery?” She collapsed in the way back due to exhaustion and lack of sleep.

SEELE’s members gloated over… and over… and over… about his plans coming to fruition, HERZ’s destruction being unavoidable, Instrumentality being imminent and the Children being helpless to stop them. Honestly, they were asking for it: the Children stopped them. Very easily and very permanently.

Especial mention goes to Unit 02 being rebuilt and their reaction being “Oh, it can not make any difference, obviously”. Guess what was a key piece of their defeat?

Keiko tells herself that she's a rookie pilot and they will not send her out to fight something as dangerous as Zeruel. Later on, she got nearly killed during a battle.

After allying herself with Kluge, Ritsuko feels calm and confident, thinking nothing can go wrong with her plan because "She had thought of everything, justified everything. By the end of the day she would be vindicated". By the end of the day she was dead, murdered by Kluge.

One notable instance in Chapter 9: when Vivi is trying to rouse the crew before dawn, Cross begs to be allowed to sleep if it's anything less than falling off the edge of the earth. Not long after that, the Grand Line draws their ship towards an Inevitable Waterfall.

Right at the end of Chapter 41, Cross does so and considers afterwards that he should have punched himself with his Impact Dial for doing so.

One not played for laughs: Cross exults after checking Ace's Vivre Card and finding it still intact, and celebrates over successfully stopping the Paramount War. The next time we see Ace, he, Squardo and Whitey have been captured by the Marines courtesy of Aokiji giving Blackbeard an unexpected opening.

Robin has done so a couple of times. By the second time she remarks that she should've known better.

Shortly after restarting his Pokémon journey, Ash muses that it might take him longer to get to Viridian City, since there won't be a flock of angry Spearow chasing him this time around. Cue a massive flock of angry Spearow and Fearow.

After seeing Nugget Bridge undergoing repairs, Misty thinks to herself that there's no way to get to Cerulean City. Then she accidentally bumps into a Vileplume, which results in her getting poisoned and Ash being forced to take her to Cerulean City.

Cynthia outright asks her Riolu What Could Possibly Go Wrong? when she takes a huge topaz crystal. Needless to say, she triggers a booby trap; in this case a giant boulder.

In the Cipher Interlude, Exol decides to show off the power of his Shadow Mawile, SD:0015. Right after he's done, he declares that "Nothing will ever go wrong". Right then, SD:0015 enters Reverse Mode and begins attacking him and everything on its vicinity.

In Chapter 24, Ash is determined not to let anything that comes up in the Fuchsia Tournament to surprise him. Then when the sorting comes up, his partner is none other than Red.

Dario spends the entire Big P Pokémon Race Interlude doing this, and of course every single time it bites him hard in the ass. The worst part is at the end when he mutters he won't get caught alive, Sabrina appears and tells him he won't be found alive.

Frax and Velvet commit several instances throughout their interlude, especially the former with his habit of saying What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, which the latter is savvy enough to know that saying those words is asking for everything to go wrong. Ironically, at the end she is the one who says it, and almost ends up paying for it.

Subverted in the S.S. Anne interlude. Ash at first is reluctant to board the ship given what happened in the previous timeline, but in the end complies and even says "what could possibly go wrong?". Turns out, nothing went wrong this time around.

At the end of Chapter 31 just as Iris says there's nothing they can't handle, an Abra teleports Ash and Pikachu to Saffron City Gym. Cue Oh, Crap!.

Old West: While Sheriff Rango's spending time with his girlfriend Beans in the 20th chapter, he assures that he won't be needed on duty. Cue to loud knocking on Beans' door and shouts for Sheriff Rango.

In Act III chapter 9, after Tsukune orders Kokoa to get all of the girls out of the boys' bathroom, Kurumu, being in the tub at the time, arrogantly brags to Kokoa that she's in water and there's nothing Kokoa can do about it. In response, Kokoa jumps right into the tub, says "I'll live," and bodily throws Kurumu out of the bathroom by the hair.

In Act III chapter 42, after all of the chaos that just occurred with Kuyou's attack, along with the revelation that Hokuto was Evil All Along and that he not only personally set up Kuyou's attack, but he's gotten his hands on Felucia's Soul Jar and used it to extort her into being his minion, the gang has just discovered that Fairy Tale is not only still active, but coming to Yokai Academy, and that Akua and Kahlua, who had previously visited the school to tell the gang that Fairy Tale was destroyed, were actually in league with the organization all along.

In Act IV chapter 32, after none of their attacks manage to phase Alucard, Razico openly ponders how it could get any worse. At that, Alucard spawns a bunch on mini-Alucards to help in his rampage.

In Act VI chapter 42, Ruby remarks that she hopes they can actually take a bath for once without a fight breaking out. Naturally, Kokoa ends up finding out that Sun was spying on her and Gin having sex earlier, and promptly beats Sun into a coma in her rage.

When Shadowjack Watches Sailor Moon covers the first episode of Sailor Moon S, and a new monster is in the process of wrecking the entire team as they try to save Rei, Usagi celebrates when the monster complains:

Capt. Kanril Eleya: Would you like to explain another Enterprise-B fiasco to Starfleet Command? Over 350 people died because the San Fran yard dragged its feet on the final touches. RADM. Taurik: That was a series of freak coincidences. The odds of all the required conditions— Eleya: Let me explain the Prophets’ sense of humor to you, sir. The higher anyone says the odds are against something happening, the greater the likelihood it is going to happen. Taurik:(beat) That is most illogical, Captain. Lt. T'Var: Illogical, but true.

In the Star Trek fanfic Written in the Stars, Fem!Kirk gives Spock a lesson in why he should never invoke this trope. Spock just makes things worse.

Spock: Our stay will be short and uneventful. Kirk: Spock, there's still a lot you need to learn from Earth language and probability. Otherwise you'd know not to say that last line. Ever. Spock: Captain, the likelihood of a few simple words changing the outcome of a chain of events in such a way is very low. Chekov: Keptin! I'm picking up something strange from ze planet! Kirk: (to Spock) You were saying? (to Chekov) What is it, Chekov? Chekov: Some sort of high-frequency energy field originating from ze surface. Uhura: Captain! Whatever it is, it's interfering with the comms! We can't broadcast or receive. Kirk: See, Spock? This is what a few simple words can do to a situation. For instance, if I say 'things couldn't get any worse'... Scotty: (over the comms) Cap'n, it's Scotty! I wouldn't recommend using the transporters anytime soon! Kirk: (after seeing Spock's eyebrow raise) Like I said. You don't use words like that. Ever.

Tristan: I sure hope we don't encounter any more intrusive subplots. Jean Claude Magnum: Did somebody say "intrusive subplot"? Tristan: Oh, son of a bitch!

On the blimp:

Doctor: I'm glad I have such a long and villain-free life ahead of me. Melvin: Hi there. Could I get a hug? Dr. Feelgood: A hug? Sure, I don't see why not. (the sounds of chainsaw revving can be heard) Oh my god, it burns, it burns!

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